Fruity

Motorists steal away with runaway melons

Melons fell out the back of a truck and prompted a traffic jam

Police in Switzerland were less than impressed on Saturday when motorists helped themselves to melons that fell out the back of a Spanish truck and prompted a traffic jam.

Drivers immediately behind the lorry "reacted well" when the rear doors or the lorry swung open for unknown reasons, sending "a large number of loaded melon cartons" onto the highway, local police in Basel city said.

But amid the ensuing tailback that stretched 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles), "a few (motorists) simply stopped and helped themselves to one or a few of these melons" on the A3 motorway that links Basel with Zurich, it said.

A patrol unit was dispatched to "secure the site" and clean up the runaway fruit.